In terms of consciousness, the microtubules seem to play a pivotal role. They provide the first nervous impulse to dormant cells and are instrumental in their motility or ‘first movement’. At this point, they actually provide multiple functions to the single cell – ‘of skeleton, muscle system, legs, blood circulatory system and nervous system all rolled into one!’, as mentioned above. This is the point of sentient matter. The microtubule has the dimensions that are small enough and yet its structure is rigid enough to merge electron probabilities at the quantum level. This occurs not only along its tiny 24 nano-meter diameter but the confluence carries over its longer living length which is in milli-meters. The other interesting fact is the involution of the microtubules into some of the complex cells, the eukaryotes, to help them reproduce. This is the stage at which the complexity of life allows one structure to decay and another replica to replace its function. The microtubules are the very conduit that pull the DNA apart and help it duplicate. Again as, one becomes two, another sentient consciousness is birthed.

We have come to understand so far how the western ideas are sitting at the cutting edge of quantum ideas in an attempt to comprehend consciousness. But the study still has a reductionist flavor. We next turn to the east for solace. As the Dalai Lama exhorts us in his recent book[23] – “A neuroscientist maybe can tell us whether a subject is dreaming, but can a neurobiological account explain the content of a dream?

Assuming that the Mind is an emergent property of matter leaves a huge explanatory gap. How do we explain the emergence of Consciousness? What marks the transition from non-sentient to sentient beings? We must ‘emerge’ from the complexity of the descriptive process to understand the ‘mystery’ of Life.”

THE EASTERN MIND

The Vedic concept of consciousness does not dissect the brain and matter into its material constituents. It looks for the ‘spirit of the matter’. It treats the nervous system as ‘continuous’ with a ‘Higher consciousness’ ; the Unknown – this is the cidākāśa of Yoga Vasisṭha or the Brahmn of the Upanishads.

1. The Yoga Vasistha and Consciousness The Yoga Vasistha of Vālmīki [24] dwells extensively on this subject and states in Section III – Utpatti Prakaranam, (Y.V III.17.10) the section dealing with creation :-

cittākāśam cidākāśam ākāśam ca trtīyakam,
dvābhyām śūnyataram viddhi cidākāśam varānane (10)

 O Līlā, there are three types of space – the psychological space, the physical space, and the infinite space of consciousness. Of these the infinite space of consciousness is the most subtle and the other two find expanse in it.[25]

The word ‘space’ is not an adequate translation of the word ākāśh – it is more like “dimension”. There is an unfolding process of these dimensions by the chaitanya or our self-awareness. As the child grows it becomes aware of its cittākāśa, the psychological dimension and understands the limitation of its skin as the boundary between the ‘inside’ and the ‘outside’. The mind folds back and looks at the bhūtākāśa, the physical dimension that includes the elements in the external reality. The intellect discerns patterns, nomenclates them, learns linguistics and semiotic gestures thus building a repertoire of ‘higher’ awareness. Let us look at some later śhlökas explaining this (Y.V.III.97.16 & 17):-

sabāhya abhyanta atho yaḥ satta asatta avbodhakaḥ,
vyāpī samasta bhūtānāṁ cidākāśa sa ucyate (16)
sarva bhūthitaḥ shreṣṭho yaḥ kālkalnātmakaḥ,
yena admātataṁ sarvaṁ cittākāśaḥ sa ucyate (17)

 The infinite space of undivided consciousness (cid ākāśa) is that which exists in all inside and outside, as the pure witness of that which is in substance or only as a vaporous intent. The finite space of divided consciousness (citta ākāśa) is that which creates the divisions of time, which pervades all beings and which has spread out the other spheres in immense vacuity.

The text then explains that both the psychological and physical dimensions are subjugated to the infinite space of undivided consciousness – “In fact, the others do not exist, and this division of consciousness into three is arbitrarily suggested only while instructing the ignorant. The enlightened one knows that there is only one reality”.

Thus the (cid ākāśa), the infinite space of undivided consciousness is the multidimensional field of Brahmn, the Unknown of the Vedas.

2. The Aitareya Āraṇyaka
   

The Aitareya Āraṇyaka [26] is one of the oldest Vedic texts and at II.4.1 the Hymn of Creation commences which is also the Upanishad with the same name and is contained in the next “three” sections of the Āranyaka viz. from II.4 to II.6. It is here that the following śhlöka explains the entry of the ‘drop’ or ‘spark’ of the Unknown into the head of the new born fetus:-

Ait. Ar. II.4.3 & Ait. Up. I.3.12 [27]

sa etam eva sīmānaṁ vidāryaitayā dvārā prāpadyata, sa eṣā vidṛtir nāma dvāḥ, tad etan nāndanam ; tasya traya āvasathās trayāḥ svapnāḥ,
ayam āvasatho’yam āvasatho’yam āvasatha iti (12)

After opening the very end of the head (simānam) , by that way he entered. This is the opening known as (vidriti) . This is the pleasing (naandanam). For that there are three abodes; three kinds of dreams as: this is the abode; this is the abode; this is the abode.[28]Sīmānam comes from the noun sīme which means boundary or the parting of the hair. Vidriti means the central fissure between the two hemispheres of the brain. See the attached figure that shows the top view of the brain. As we can see this ‘central fissure’ is the abode of ‘three’ chakras viz. the bindu chakra, which is the eighth (this is often overlooked in the popular books on meditation and yoga – it is the ‘hidden’ one)[29], sahasrār chakra – the seventh and the ājna chakra – the sixth.

3. The bindu chakra
   It is the point at which the vedic priest or the Brāhman grows a long tuft of hair called the bodhī. The tree by this name is ficus religiosa which is unique in that it has aerial roots that can absorb water from the air and survive in the harshest of climes. One often sees these in India growing in wall crevices or desolate fields. Like the Banyan, ficus bengalensis, the aerial roots of the bodhi tree fall to the ground and keep growing into an ever-expanding umbrella. Buddha found his enlightenment under a bodhi tree. This eighth chakra is also called the bodhi chakra. Each chakra has an inherent, resonant vibration called the beej mantra or literally ‘seed-sound’. The beej of the bodhi chakra is condensed, ‘unheard’ sound. It is a bindu which is often translated as a ‘point’ and, as we will see, it is much more than that. Euclid in his axioms says that – “A point is that which has no part”. In the Vedic context bindu is not inanimate nor is it a simple sound. It is the sum total of all dimensions rolled into a vibrant spot, it is the spanda of the Shiv sūtras [30].

To elaborate, in the eastern context, a ‘point’ cannot be ‘zero-dimensional’. On the contrary, it is a concentrated microcosmic unit that unfolds to reveal all dimensions. It is like the enfolded string of the Unified field theory of physics today. Kalātattvakośa [31] elaborates on bindu giving citations from various Sanskrit texts as follows :-